The House and Senate will forgo a formal conference committee, and merge the health care bills through informal negotiations:
According to a pair of senior Capitol Hill staffers, one from each chamber, House and Senate Democrats are "almost certain" to negotiate informally rather than convene a formal conference committee. Doing so would allow Democrats to avoid a series of procedural steps--not least among them, a series of special motions in the Senate, each requiring a vote with full debate--that Republicans could use to stall deliberations, just as they did in November and December.
Importantly, the lack of a formal conference committee means that Republicans can be left out of the process entirely. If there was a conference committee, then Republicans would have to be included in the negotiations. So, this is certainly a sign that the Democratic congressional leadership has finally concluded that Republicans are bad-faith actors on health care. Hopefully, this knowledge will extend to other areas of legislation, too.
At Congress Matters, David Waldman has more on the rationale, and inevitability, of forgoing a formal conference committee process on health care.
On the negative side, the lack of a formal conference committee is leaving the Progressive Caucus feels left out, too:
"I am disappointed that there will be no formal conference process by which various constituencies can impact the discussion. I have not been approached about my concerns with the Senate bill, and I will be raising those at the Democratic Caucus meeting on Thursday. I and other progressives saw a conference as a means to improve the bill and have a real debate, and now with this behind-the-scenes approach, we're concerned even more."
If anything, this is a sign that Progressives feel less powerful when negotiations become less transparent. That makes sense experientially when it comes to public whip count efforts on Social Security (ala Talking Points Memo back in 2005) and the public option. It also makes sense deductively. The further the negotiations take place from the public, the more relatively accountable the negotiators will be to powerful, behind the scenes interests such as the powerful health care lobby.
In short, there are pluses and minuses to forgoing a formal conference committee, but there won't be one whether we like it or not.
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